NEW ORLEANS, LA—Today the City announced Civil District Court Judge Lloyd J. Medley, Jr. has upheld the City of New Orleans’ code enforcement action against the Lake Terrace Shopping Center located at 1532 Robert E. Lee Boulevard in Gentilly. The City has aggressively pursued action against the property owner to force development of the longtime blighted property. The shopping center has sat vacant since Hurricane Katrina,

“I am pleased with Judge Medley’s ruling,” said Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “His ruling helps advance the City’s goal of remediating this eyesore and restoring the quality of life for those neighborhoods.”

On December 21, 2012, Civil District Court Judge Lloyd J. Medley, Jr. affirmed the judgment rendered by the City of New Orleans Code Enforcement rendered on June 7, 2012 against DMK Acquisitions and Properties LLC that the property is guilty of blight and public nuisance.

Now that the blight judgment has been affirmed, the City of New Orleans is considering any and all legal remedies available with respect to the property, including but not limited to expropriation, lien foreclosure, or demolition. As a large commercial property, it is the City’s position that the shopping center must return to commerce. The surrounding neighborhood has played an active role in the Code Enforcement Hearings as well.

While DMK Acquisitions and Properties LLC may still appeal the ruling to the Fourth Circuit Court, the City will continue its aggressive strategy to remediate and ultimately put the property back into commerce.

Nearly two years ago, Mayor Landrieu announced a new, aggressive blight strategy aimed at reducing the blight count in New Orleans by 10,000 properties by 2014. A recent study released by The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center showed that blighted properties have been reduced by approximately 8,000 addresses since 2010. The study attributed the reduction in part to the focused efforts of City agencies to bring properties into compliance by prioritizing aggressive code enforcement and code lien foreclosure sales.